Another Sunday - Another gorgeous lake!

How could this gorgeous lake be named after a rat?

After helping teach the kiddos at church, we let the dishes sit, the messes be messy, the shaggy lawn grow another inch, the homework and haircuts wait for one more day and took off  with our boxer, Ruby, for a hike to Rat Lake. I keep saying it's our last time out for the season, but the weather went from rainy back to gorgeous with long, fall shadows and crisp breezes. It was an interesting hike - a steep rocky trail that was supposedly 1 mile round trip (no way, 2 miles for sure) led up to this quiet lake. We only saw three groups of people the entire time. We cast our lines, but the fish eluded us. It was funny seeing Josh somehow get his fishing lure stuck about 13 feet straight up in a tree.  After that crazy week it was just what we needed!

Back from my Stay-cation!

We live in such a fabulous city that we can enjoy an entire week of fun without ever leaving or spending a bundle.  My mom came for her annual summer visit and the first thing we did was head up 7000ft to Fairy Lake to picnic, hike,fish, geocache hunt, and letterbox hunt. I have to say this lake ties with Hyalite for being the most gorgeous lake. It's no wonder it's named after fairies! (Fairy Lake is behind the peak in the center of the pic)

And to make it more memorable for our family, the boys accidently left the van door wide open before we left for our 2 hrs of fun at the lake! Our purses were in there and let's just say all my mom's travel funds. There were about 17 cars in the parking area.  I love Montanan's - no one even touched it!

The next day we were off to the Museum of the Rockies. I buy family passes because it's always so fantastic I want to go back every time they change their main exhibit. MOR has the largest TRex skull and is headed by Jack Horner who's research Jurassic Park was based on. The current exhibit is Leonardo DaVinci's Machines in Motion. They just opened a new Kid's level upstairs with operational geysers! (parachute type water pops up and the floor rumbles)  Next we were off to the Bozeman Hot Springs - WAHOOOO! Splash all ya' want boys! The next day we were off in search of Pirate Treasure!!!ARRRGG! Turns out it took us THREE days to actually best ol' Blackbeard and loot his treasure (Letterbox).  Mom and I got "inked" (with the letterbox stamp) Found the Treasure!  Here's our Letterbox stamps: Hers is LC ours is "6Jeepers"  We made some delicious-smelling soaps and I will be giving the most gorgeous one away soon!  And wrapped up the week with our annual "Dinner Out-IN" as my Mom calls it. Instead of dragging all the boys to a restaurant and rushing to eat before one of them "expires" we learned years ago to just go buy some crab legs, baked potatoes and salad and really enjoy ourselves at home. It was sad to see her head back to her home state but hopefully the memories will keep until next time we can whoop-it-up together. We wrapped up our family week Sunday by taking them all to church, to the neighborhood bbq meet-n-greet and took 6 boys fishing at the great little city lake - And, yep, "I got one!" Stay tuned everyone, this next week or so I will have a couple giveaways!!

Hiking & Geocache Hunting

Wow! What a great way to spend the weekend with a bunch of rowdy boys!  We hiked the M in Bozeman for the first time as a family. We took the long loop and it was a gain of 850 feet. Although, I did carry Dakota for the last 1/4 mile to the top and piggy-backed him all the way down it was worth it. This must be the best time of the year to hike it because there were fields and fields of yellow and purple flowers along the way. The views were spectacular and the boys were thrilled when a helicopter few by level with them as they sat on the edge of the M. After that we hiked Bear  Canyon Trail a little ways too. We have never been there and it's a nice, shady walk along the little creek.

And to take it up a notch, we were on a secret mission. Little did the other hikers know, we were hunting for geocache's! Thanks to Jana at Milk and Cookies we looked into "Letterboxing" and also learned about "geocaching".  As soon as we get our stamp made we'll be hunting for the letterboxes, but I already have figured out clues and printed directions for those. Since no stamp is needed for geocaching, we went for it.  Our first attempt to locate with the GPS was on a mountain road near a hiking trail. We parked and walked around, looking along the street edge, around a for-sale post and continued down the open road.  Apparently, those road edges we were pecking around were private property because a neighbor on the opposite side got in her car, drove past us, turned around and came back to ask if we were ok. We must really look suspicious with our minivan and four kids running around! We didn't find it there, but in another location.

      The first geocache find was the most fun because we just couldn't believe we found it. My husband found it first with his GPS, but even with the GPS, he can be standing right next to it and not see it, with it's covering. We traded trinkets and signed the logbook, looking at all the names of previous finders. One man found it with no GPS, another in 6 inches of snow! We are "6Jeepers" if anyone in Bozeman ever finds that name on the log. Our goal is to have the boys leave things for kids and Chris and I to leave things for the adults. It seems as though the guys are getting gipped, so I put in a new flashlight for the next guy to find. We were so thrilled we headed off for the next one and that one was hidden in a great spot too!  The next day we knew the boys' legs needed a rest so we hunted in town. Out of three locations we only found one but it was hidden well. The boys and I are all learning how to follow a GPS while walking and Chris and I are working as a team to choose locations that all of us can get to (not too steep) and I'm the riddle-solver when needed.  In today's economy it can be tough to find new things to do that don't cost a lot. Letterboxing and Geocaching cost only the gas you need to get to a trailhead or in-town park and it's fun for the entire family. Thanks Jana for suggesting this on my last hiking post!  If anyone is interested, I'd love to know what your stamp looks like or your "siggie" for the geocache logs. Here are two links to explain more about them:  http://www.geocaching.com/ http://www.letterboxing.org/ http://www.atlasquest.com/

Happy Hiking! Happy Hunting!